The Largest Collection of Glass Works by Tiffany Studios To Be Auctioned at Sothebys
The second iteration of the Doros collection is heading to auction at Sotheby's on June 7, Town & Country can exclusively reveal. The Doros Collection: The Art Glass of Louis Comfort Tiffany is the most comprehensive collection of Tiffany Studio's glassworks to ever come to market and is expected to bring in between $700,000 to $1 million. The first iteration of the sale, which took place last December, generated $2,027,088 surpassing the estimate of $1.4 million.
Every collector seems to succumb to the enchantment of the objects they are collecting. Wallis Simpson was obsessed with jewelry. Paul Newman loved his Rolex Watches, and the Wolf family couldn't get enough of American made design. For Jay and Micki Doros, however, it's glassworks that seemingly bewitched them.
Their collecting odyssey began with a strong affinity for the American brilliant cut glass, also known as hand-cut crystal, produced from 1876 to roughly 1920.
But, according to their son, Paul Doros, not even 700 pieces could extinguish their insatiable desire for glassworks. "Along the way though, due largely to visits and seminars at the Corning Museum of Glass, they recognized that their collection totally ignored color and decorative imagination. And no glass artist has ever epitomized those characteristics more than Louis Comfort Tiffany." Doros tells Town & Country.
While the two first focused on only Tiffany's blown glass, Jay wanted more. This desire manifested into a comprehensive collection of Tiffany's paintings, jewelry, ceramics, mosaics, textiles, and metalware—but the stars of the installment of the sales lean more towards the blown glass vases: the Cameo Paperweight vase that appears to have immortalized a spring garden, and both the Earl Lava vase and the monumental Exhibition vase which appear to be forged by magma itself. There is, however, one table lamp in the sale that needn't be forgotten. The ultra-rare Flame Table lamp is identified by the mosaic of glass that makes up the lampshade. Though it is an unanimated object by definition, the hues of red and blue that appear at odds with one another provide a lively visual feast.
"Micki and Jay loved all aspects of glass artistry, history, and production and would have happily had a museum-like encyclopedic collection if space permitted in the confines of their relatively modest home," Doros says. " As such, they did collect other glass objects made by Tiffany's contemporaries because they appreciated them artistically, but, more significantly, these objects placed their Tiffany collection into a historical context." While many collectors envision Tiffany objects as something separate, Doros says that the couple understood that "Tiffany vases were but a continuum from trends in both Europe and the United States in the 1800s."
Established in 1885, Tiffany Studios glassmaking company is best known for its multi-colored, stained glass (called Favrile) primarily used for windows and lamps. The style was trademarked in 1894 following the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago to prevent knockoffs on the market. One of the most notable stained glass windows is The Holy City (1905), which depicts St. John's vision on the isle of Patmos and is currently located at Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland.
"The glassware produced by Tiffany Studios has an intimacy and quality of the ‘hand-made’ that distinguishes it in a unique way from the firm’s lamps. There is an immediacy of connection when you hold a piece of a Tiffany glass in your hands," Jodi Pollack, Sotheby’s Co-Worldwide Head of 20th Century Design says. "The techniques one sees in their glass production can result in pieces that are simply sublime and timeless, often requiring great artistic and technical precision. A magnificent piece of Tiffany glass is magical and leaves one to imagine how it was created."
The reason for the desire for Tiffany Studios glassware ranges. Could it be the artistry? Perhaps rarity or history? For the Doros Duo, it seems to be all three.
"The Doros Collection: The Art Glass of Louis Comfort Tiffany exhibition" will be live and open to the public beginning on June 2 through June 6 at Sotheby's New York. The live sale will take place on June 7. For inquiries or more information about the sale, please visit sothebys.com. View the full catalog here.
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